Minutes reveal Scottish Government agency’s doubts about Flamingo Land support
Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer has urged the Scottish Government’s business agency, Scottish Enterprise, to withdraw its support for Flamingo Land’s controversial proposals for a mega-resort on the banks of Loch Lomond.
The call comes after revelations that, despite continuing to publicly back the plans, agency bosses privately acknowledged the proposal has “no clear alignment with Scottish Enterprise's mission focus.”
The admission was found in minutes of a Scottish Enterprise Enterprise Executive Leadership Team meeting, obtained via a Freedom of Information request by Nick Kempe of Park Watch Scotland. [1]
Flamingo Land’s application for a sprawling tourist resort on the southern shore of Loch Lomond at Balloch was unanimously rejected by the board of Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park in September.
This came after an almost decade-long campaign led by Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer collected a record 155,000 individual objections. Opposition to the plans also came from the Woodland Trust, Ramblers Scotland, the National Trust for Scotland and environmental watchdog SEPA.
After the plans were rejected, Scottish Enterprise, which owns most of the land, extended their exclusive agreement with Flamingo Land. This was done in order to support the developer lodging an appeal against the Park’s decision. That appeal is now sitting with the Scottish Government awaiting a decision.
Mr Greer said:
“Flamingo Land’s proposed mega-resort is the most unpopular planning application in Scottish history. For almost a decade they have ignored Balloch residents and tried to force these daft plans on Loch Lomond - but we have beaten them at every stage.
“Scottish Enterprise knows how ridiculous, damaging and widely opposed the proposals are. Their own leadership team have admitted that it doesn’t match their mission, but they’ve decided to continue backing it out of a misguided sense of obligation.
“By extending Flamingo Land’s exclusive contract for the site, they are stopping others from putting forward different proposals which would actually benefit the community and protect the world famous local environment.
“The community is absolutely exhausted by all of this. Balloch residents will continue to defend Loch Lomond but they shouldn’t have to. It’s time for Scottish Enterprise to finally pull the plug on Flamingo Land and end this whole sorry saga.”